Plant Medicine Farmacy: 4 Part Series
Plant Medicine Farmacy 101 - (online) Oct. 22th, 2024 - 6-7:30pm
What is herbalism? Herbalism is as ancient as life itself. It predates recorded history, oral history, and even human beings. It is the foundation of all other forms of medicine & is the respectful use of whole plant material such as leaves, flowers, fruit, seed, stem, bark, root, moss, lichen, seaweed & even fungi or animal parts to support & maintain health but also to prevent, alleviate, or resolve root causes of dis-ease. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 75-80% of the world’s population still relies on medicinal plant preparations for their primary healthcare needs.
In this introductory class we will unpack the foundations of herbal medicine & snippets of its history. We will delve into the benefits of herbs for holistic health & discuss basic herbal preparations as well as herbal energetic actions on the body & identify what makes them work.
The Herbal Compass Demystified - (online) Nov., 12th, 2024, 6-7:30pm
This virtual class is offered as part of the Herbal Compass 12 month series yet is also offered separately in order to give you an idea of what the series is like & to get a better understanding of the symbols & various guide posts which we will follow throughout the year. Nearly every culture around the world which had or still has a connection to their land based wisdom practices will utilize an medicine wheel of some kind.
Are you searching for a way to reconnect with the rhythmic changes of the seasons & reawaken your wild roots? Orienting yourself within the compass is a way of honoring yourself as a part of nature within the web of life & our relationship with the dynamic 5 phases of Mama Earth.
This 5 phase/element (earth, fire, metal, water & wood) medicine wheel was created from aspects of both Celtic & Chinese land based traditions.
Compass = compassion, guidance, orientation. Where am I? What am I? You can’t enact genuine compassion & healing without proper grounding & orientation.
Understanding Herbal Energetics - Integrating Sacred Traditions of Vitalist Healthcare (online) - Nov. 19th, 2024, 6-7:30pm
Herbal energetics is the foundation of understanding how plant medicine works with the body.
We already speak & understand life in an energetic way. We just don’t call it that. The term energetics may have an ethereal or woo-woo sound to it but it is a very practical concept that we discuss daily. It’s as common as considering the weather & how it makes us feel. How sluggish you feel in hot humid weather or how flush you get when eating hot peppers. We all understand to eat cucumber & watermelon (cooling foods) on hot summer days & eat hearty warming soups & stews in winter. Maintaining a proper balance of energies such as hot, cold, warm, damp and dry is how we maintain health. Herbs can work to bring the energies that are out of balance back into balance. For example, excess heat in the body can be seen with chronic heat like rosacea & allergies or acute heat like a viral infection or bronchitis.
Fire, water, air, earth, wood, ether, and metal are representations of energy. Fire or heat is transformative, earth builds & is grounding. Air is movement which cools & dries while water nourishes & moistens. The ways in which these elements interrelate is how we experience but also understand the nature of our bodies within the environment we inhabit. It is not only the foundation of how we cultivate balance & health it is the foundation of how we understand where we are and who we are. Nothing lives in isolation & the goal of energetic modals is to reveal the depth of all our relations.
Whether the topic is climate change, Anthropocentric extinction or pandemics nature is guiding us more than most people can fathom we just have to re-tune our senses to recognize and name these energetic patterns.
What Taste Tells: The Therapeutic Profiles of Flavor (in-person), Nov. 24th, 2024, 2-4pm
Taste works beyond simply making our food "taste better". Taste is & has been a crucial evolutionary information highway. Did you know that no matter what medicinal plant (or morsel of food) you have at your finger tips that you can detect & begin to understand beneficial qualities just by taste, touch & sensation? Flavor can inform you of an herbs organ affinity, energetics & medicinal actions. Besides being important in terms of matching the right herb to the right person learning the therapeutic profiles of flavor gives agency & autonomy within how we work with & understand herbal medicine. It is also integral to divesting in a one-size-fits-all modern healthcare paradigm. We will also take a look at the ancient Chinese technique of reading our tongue by noticing how we experience the sensation of the plant in our mouth & what that can tell us. Each participant will be able to (of course) taste, touch & smell at least one plant corresponding to each of the 5 flavors: bitter, pungent/acrid, sour, sweet, salty.
Our Team
Alyssa Dennis
I am a trained clinical herbalist, educator & interdisciplinary artist. The educational & artistic side of my practice is focused on herbal literacy which really means bringing clarity to our current state of ecological apprenticeship with the land & a synergistic balance or imbalance of our internal/external elemental nature. I’m interes
I am a trained clinical herbalist, educator & interdisciplinary artist. The educational & artistic side of my practice is focused on herbal literacy which really means bringing clarity to our current state of ecological apprenticeship with the land & a synergistic balance or imbalance of our internal/external elemental nature. I’m interested in the dualistic cultural perspectives & ideas of antidote vs poison, the concept of “quackery" vs indigenous wisdom & the dangers of corporate greed upon our health & the health of this planet.
Herbal Offers & Class Updates
Welcome! We add new class offerings all the time. This is the best way to stay up to date. Hope to see you in the garden.